Catalytic converter



Aug. 19, 1930. D. F.5IRDEVAN CATALYTIC CONVERTER Filed March 12, 1926 INVENTOR DAVID ESIRDEVAN BY ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 1930 omen STATES PATENT OFFICE I DAVID F. SIRIQEVAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL CHEMICAL COM- PANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK CATALYTIC CONVERTER v Application filed March 12 1926. Serial No. 94,355.

This inventiori relates to apparatus for holding catalytic or filtering material, and particularly to such apparatus as is used for r the treatmentof sulfur dioxide containin of foreign matter gases prior to and during the conversion of the sulfur dioxide to sulfur trioxide by'cata lytic oxidation.

The invention further relates to apparatus for holding material for the treatment of gases generally, and is designed to be of particular value where a low resistance to the passage of gas through the apparatus is desired and where high temperature conditions are encountered.

An object of the invention is the provision f an apparatus of this type adapted to form lnterchangeable units, whereby ease in replacement and repair is obtained.

Another object of the invention "is the pro-' vision of an apparatus in which looseor fibrous catalytic or filtering material may be held in relatively fixed position without danger of disarrangement in handling, in which a large surface area relative to depth of'the material is obtained, and in which the resistance to gas flow through the apparatus approaches a minimum.

The invention further contemplates an apparatus of a type adapted-to withstand high temperature conditions without warping and deterioration. I

Another object of the invention is the provision ofa converter unit so arranged as to completely protect the catalytic materialfrom contamination with dust and particles by quickly replaceablefiltering means. r I

An additional object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus simple and cheap to construct, easy to disassemble for purposes of repair, or replacement of the contained filtering or contact material, and in which the contained material is held Without opportu-- nity of loss, either in the gas stream passing therethrough or in handling of the containers during replacements Moreover, by providing an apparatus in which displacement of material is reduced to a minimum, my invention further aims to reduce losses caused by improper filtration with consequent poor conversion. v

With these objects in view I have constructed an apparatus adapted forthis purpose, and have I illustrated a preferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings, in which: J

I Fig. I is an elevation view partly in section of a contact chamber containing my. improved form of containers.

i Fig. II is a plan view of a container, showing the position of spacers for supporting another container thereupon.

Fig. III is a plan view of a grid designed to formv a rigid support for one or more containers. I

I Fig. IV'is a plan view of a section of one of the perforated plates used in the construction of the containers.

For purposes of simplicity, I have, in Fig. II, neglected to show perforations in the cercular plates, as indicated in F ig.'IV.

' In the contact process for the manufacture of sulfuric acid it becomesnecessary to pass hot sulfur dioxide containing gases in con- ,tact with a suitable catalyst to complete the oxidation of the sulfur dioxide to sulfur trioxide. It also frequently becomes necessary to filter these gases preliminary to the conversion stage to thoroughly remove all solid dust particles or other impurities carried along in the gas stream in order that the sensitive catalytic material will not become poisoned or contaminated by the objectionable impurities. The material most frequently used as the filtering medium, and as a base for the catalytic material, is various forms of asbestos.

In order to be eflfective the asbestos must be maintained as aloose fibrous mass in order that a large surface area of contact may be provided when acting as a catalyst, and an intensive filtering action obtained, when acting as a filter: As the velocities of the gases passing through the asbestos are relatively high; it tends to pack together and loses its desired .fibrous condition. Moreover, the filtering material has a tendency to form openings or voids through which the gases will pass without being subjected to the desired filtering or conversion action. In the past it has been considered extremely difficult to provide an apparatus which will function satisfactorily to maintain over lQng periods quently encountered in the filtering stages.-

In the more recently developed contact proC- esses, as foi instance in'that' process disclosed in the U. S. patent to Merriam, 1,384,566,

the sulfur dioxide gases from the brimstone burners are paed without a cold purification treatment to the converters It will be ,seen that in this process the sulfur dioxide-- gases "to be filtered prior to the conversion stage will be at temperatures above that ini- "tially desired for conversion. At these high paratus capable of withstandi same time was not.unduly expensive to contemperatures the known types of supports or holders sag and warp out of-position, re-

,sulting in displacement of the contact or filtering medium with consequent loss of efficiency, and renderingrepair and replacement of the apparatus extremely tedious; It. has been found diflicu'lt to design a type of ap- -the high temperature conditions encountered, without warping of the apparatus, and (which at the struct and which would not offer a'high resistance to the passage of gases therethrough.-- It is to overcome these difliculties that I have devised my present form of apparatus.

In Fig. I, I have shown my preferfed t pe -of construction placedin a conta t chain on '1 adapted to Icontain same. T is contact chamber is pre erably' a cylindrical iron casting provided with an inlet 2* and outlet 3,-

prise a plurality of -spaced','perforated meabove and below the filtering-and contact material. The. contact chamber isprovided with a rem ovabletop 4 and bottom 5, in

order that b'y'removing same the containers for the filtering and contact. material may be easily madeaccessibleor lifted. entirely out of thecontact chamber. annular rib 6 is provided inthe chamber casting to act-- as a seat for the cast iron grid 7, supporting the containers for the filtering and contact material. The containers whichI have devised conitallic plates 8 rigidly bound together, at a rela tively large number of points byibolts 9 extending the-reth'rough. 'The. bolts 9,, particularly those placed adjacent thecircumference of the plates, are preferably threaded and provided-with nuts 11 intermediate and on the outer sides of the plates which act not only as spacers but firmly bind thqplates together into arigidconstruction.

l have found it desirable to space the b6lts 9, or other fastening means used, uniformly over the area of the plates to take up strains and provide a uniformly rigid structure. To further provide a 'ri 'd structure ,I lace a steel ring 13 interme iate each pair 0 plates adjacent the periphery thereof.- These rings are. not joined tothe plates but are 'held 1n position by being clamped'between same by the bolts 9 and nutsoll. These rings not only act as spacers but form a'practically closed container and.prevent the catalytic oi filtering material held between the lates from escaping Upon the top plate pro- I vide a number of eyes 14; held by the bolts 9,

permitting lifting the entire unit from the contact chamber.

The lowermost container in the chamber is rigidly fastened to the grid 7. In this case the bolts 9 are extended through holes in the grid casting and secured by a nut-upon the end thereof. In this manner the plates are rigidly held fromwarping and maintain the desired parallel relation. Upon the top plate of the lower container are placeda number of steel rings 15 which act as s acers' to maintain the upper container the [esired distance from the lower container. A number of open rings 13 may alsobe placed between the two containers to support the outer edges of the upper container.

Before placrn the containers in the conthey areassembled. Thus by provi mg a series-of spaced parallel plates'I am enabled to form and retain in place a number of unil'ates as tact chambertltlie filtering or contact material 1 0 is packed uniformly between the form beds of filtering or'contact material; I cit )5 have found that the beds are maintained from displacement, and the formation of voids is v prevented, by thus providing a comparatively large number of relatively thin beds of maciated that the opportunity for loss of material in handling. the containers and placing them in position-is quitesmall. This is of iterial held against both vertical andlateral dlsplacement. It will moreover be appregreat importance, particularly witlnreference to the catalytidmateral containing large amounts of platinum. n the older constructions in which the platinum carrying asbestos is loosely placed upon trays inthe converter chamber, the opportunity for loss of valuable platinum is large and great care must be exereised in placing the catalyst in the converters to prevent this loss. ,VVith my type of con struction it will be seen that the containers may be packed with the catalyst outside of the 1 converter chamber at any suitable place where precautions against loss of' platinum may be more easily maintained, and the container then may be placed as a unit into the converter chamber. This not only greatly increases the 1 v I new the catalytic material.- x The capacity of a plant is directlyprop'ortional toth'e amount of sulfur trioxide formed in the contactchamfibers, and asa-cdnverter system must be'entirely shut down while it is being repacked' it will be seen that it is'of great importance to less'en the time required for repairing or repacking the, converters. In a small plant when it becomes necessary to repack the converters, at present it may be necessary to shutdown the entire plant during this period. By .lowering this period'of inactivity to a minimum "I am able to reduce the cost of manufacture of acid.

In my preferred construction of the converter unit I pack the upper container Afwith asbestos to form a filter. The lower contain- "er B is packed with catalytic material in the form of platinized asbestos. It will be'seen that this construction provides a filter immediately preceding the catalyst, which filter completely protects the catalyst fromcontamination and yet is quickly replaceable when it becomes clogged. The advantage of this construction is obvious in that as there-is 0 no appreciable space intervening between the filter and the catalyst, the filtered gas has no opportunity to pick up additional foreign matter in its passage from the filter, to the catalyst. This has been found to be a distinct I improvement, resulting in increased conversions and considerably longer life of the cata lytic material. The time required for replacement of a filter unit is relatively short, due to my unitary replaceable construction. 40 I am consequently enabled to maintaln the converter system at maximum eificiency with minimum operating and maintenance costs. It is of course clear that any desired number of filter units and converter units may be used in a single converter chamber.

'It is to be understood that while I have described my preferred embodiment as con-- sisting of steel plates supported by'a cast iron grid, that I'do not intend't'o limit myself to these particular materials except as defined in' the claims. Moreover, although I have described my apparatus in connection with the use of asbestos as a filtering. or contact material, it is to be understoodthat it is well adapted for use with other types of materials'.

I claim: I I 1. An apparatus of the character described,

.romprising a plurality of spaced perforated seoplates, adapted to support and retain loose Lcatalytic material or the like,*a plurality of asteningmeans for retaining each of said fes in a; relatively fixed position with reseveral plates together as a rigid strucct to theother plates and for maintaining tural unit and means for closing the spaces between the plates at. the periphery thereof.

' 2. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a plurality of spaced perforated plates adapted to support and retain loose catalytic material or the like, a plurality of fastening means for retaining each of said plates in a relatively fixed position with respect to the other plates and for maintaining the several plates together as a rigid structural unit, and a ring closing the space between each pair of plates adjacent the periphery thereof.

3. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a plurality of spaced perforated plates adapted to support and retain loose catalytic 'material or the like, a plurality of fastening means for retaining each of said plates in a relatively fixed position with respect to the other plates and for maintaining 86 the several plates together as a rigid struc- 'tural unit, said fastening means being spaced at substantially regular intervals distributed over the entire area of the plates, and means for closing the circumferential spaces be- 90 tween the plates at, the periphery thereof.

4. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a plurality of spaced parallel perforated plates adapted to support and retain loose catalytic material or the like, bolts extending through said plates at a plurality of uniformly spaced points, nuts threaded'upon said. bolts upon opposite sides of said plates, and means for closing the spaces between the plates at the periphery thereof.

5. An apparatus of the character described,

comprising a plurality of spaced perforated plates adapted to support and retain loose catalytic material or the like, a'plurality of fastening means for retaining ,each of said plates in a relatively fixed position with respect to the other plates and for maintaining the several plates-together as a rigid structural unit, and a rigid grid, said grid being rigidlv fastened to an outer face of said group of plates.

6. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a chamber having an inlet and an outlet, a plurality of spaced -perforated plates within said chamber adapted to sup port and retain loose catalytic material or the like, a plurality of fastening means for retaining each of said plates in a relatively fixed position with respect to the other plates,

said fastening means being spaced at substantially regular intervals distributed .over the entire area of said plates, means for closing 1 the spaces between said plates adjacent the periphery thereof, a rigid grid fastened to an outer face of said group of plates, and means for supporting saidgrid within said chamber intermediate the inlet and outlet thereof.

7. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a chamber having an inlet and an outlet, said chamber being provided with an 139 inwardly extending flan e upon the innerwalls thereof, a rigid gri resting upon said 'flange, a plurality of spaced perforated plates rigidly fastened together by a plurahty of,

bolts extending therethrough an adapted to support and retain loose catalytic material or the like, said bolts having nuts threaded thereon-upon opposite sides of said- 1plates, said bolts extending into said grid w ereb said plates are rigidly fastened to said Fri 8. An apparatus for the conversion 0 sul-' fur dioxileto sulfur trioxide by the contact rocess om risin a chamber havin an inlet and an outlet, a bed of catalytic material in said chamber intermediate said inlet and 5 outlet. and a unitary group of spaced rigidly joined foraminous plates having filtering material therebetween removably su ported in said chamber preceding said cata ytic material in the direction of as flow.:

In testimony whereo I aflix my signature.

DAVID F. ,SIRDEVAN. 

